The growing trend of electricity consumption also confirms the necessity of Paks II.

12/15/21 9:44 AM
The country's electricity demand is constantly growing, which is why the construction of the two new Paks NPP units is of utmost interest.

Hungary’s electricity consumption is growing spectacularly, and more and more domestic peak system loads records are broken. These data also support the need for the two new Paks NPP units, István Mittler stated. The Communications Director of Paks II. Ltd. said four times this year, the so-called peak quarterly average of gross system load was broken, most recently 7361 megawatts were measured around quarter to five in the afternoon on 9 December - that is, on average, this amount of electricity was used by residential and industrial consumers connected to the grid at the same time in the given quarter.

According to MAVIR’s data, at the time of consumption records, in addition to the Paks Nuclear Power Plant and the gas power plants operating in the country, electricity imports satisfied the total gross system load, to which renewables could contribute only 4-5%.

 

István Mittler drew attention to the fact that the demand for electricity shows an increase in the standard of living in Hungary just like anywhere else in the world, along with wealth and technical development. According to MAVIR experts, per capita electricity consumption in Hungary is still significantly lower than in Western Europe, only half of the Austrian value, for example. With the spread of air conditioners suitable for both cooling and heating, and the use of electric cars and modern, energy-efficient heat pump heating, countless new consumers have appeared in the electricity system. Projections already point to absolute peaks of 8,000 MW by 2030 and project further exponential growth in the longer term.

– The two new units in Paks will contribute 2400 MW to meet this electricity consumption – the communications director stressed, while adding: – The VVER-1200 units will be built to replace a total of 2000 MW of the operating nuclear power plant. At present, thanks to the production of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary has the lowest residential electricity price among the European Union member states. The purpose of the Paks II. investment is to maintain this capacity to guarantee security of supply. In other words, the Paks project is the key to cheap and clean electricity generation – István Mittler stated. The director confirmed that the implementation phase of the new nuclear power plant units could start in 2022 with the necessary licenses, and the project company would like to keep the schedule, the planned dates for connection to the grid, ie 2029 and 2030.